Unemployment office's boss is ex-BART director

EXAMINER STAFF REPORT

Published 4:00 am, Tuesday, April 6, 1999

1999-04-06 04:00:00 PDT CALIFORNIA -- SACRAMENTO - Former BART director Michael S. Bernick, who raised thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from BART contractors while in office, has been appointed by Gov. Davis as director of the Employment Development Department.

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An Examiner investigation just before the 1996 election found that during his campaign, Bernick raised $11,675 - 46 percent of his campaign total - from companies that sought BART contracts.

The fund raising came just days before a new BART policy banned such contributions from contractors.

The policy was approved after disclosure that the FBI was investigating a BART contractor for promising campaign contributions in exchange for a personnel contract. Bernick was not a subject of the probe.

At the time, Bernick defended his own fund raising, saying that except for a few donations from close friends in the transit industry, he sharply curtailed his fund raising among contractors since campaign restrictions were approved and went into effect Oct. 1, 1996.

"I've never thought there was a conflict," Bernick told The Examiner at the time.